Thanks for the advice, thats why I always play blackjack, at least thats skill based.
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Look at their page. Just know itâs well thought of and in high demand so itâs likely not safe either.
Youâll know more after you have your test score.
Applying to 20 programs - do you mean schools ? Applying to more doesnât give you better odds.
Do you have a budget ? Thatâs first and foremost. Going to certain colleges may help but not necessarily. Thereâs a parent here who speaks of their student getting recruited to Google from N Georgia. My neither has a Poli Sci degree from Arizona with an MBA and heâs worked for two biggies in NYC the last few years.
Be the best you that you can be. MIT and UMASS are very different. Why not figure out what you like in a school beyond rank and go from there.
Rank, in and of itself, means little. And kids are getting great jobs from all over. Iâve mentored a kid who just finished at an unranked SEC school- with a 5 year Master.
He interned at companies in Nashville, in Kansas City, and a biggy in Seattle, and is starting there at $150k with a $25k sign on. He did a 5 year Masters.
The world is tough today. And in 5 years itâs an unknown.
Iâd focus on fit. It seems youâve missed that. And you might find out what your parents are willing to spend.
Once you have a test, come back.
Also list your expected highest English, Msth, social science, science and foreign language.
Youâre on track more than you think.
Do you want to do ROTC or you just think itâs a way to afford ?
If youâd prefer not to, how much are your parents willing to spend per year.
I think youâre a bit early but youâre on a good path.
I cant say that I really understand what you say when you mean fit. As far as demographics and location I prefer urban schools slightly with a mid range of students but really I donât care that much at all, I would enjoy any experience to be away from my home and I have looked into some major programs and liked what I have seen, I cant think of anything else to look for as most colleges have activities i would be interested in participating in like robotics or greek life. My parents saved up a ton and I have already applied to some smaller scholarships. I plan on just going on the place with the best ROI I can afford
( Deleting, not relevant now that the post got moved 
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I dont know if a mod can add this to the top or something but:
Top classes by senior year:
Math: AP Stats and Calc AB or BC
English: AP Lang and Lit
History: AP US History
Science : AP Bio and AP Physics (havent decided which exam yet)
Spanish : AP Spanish, also native. I am very committed to ROTC and was planning on just enlisting for a while, I love everyone Iâve met in the service and love a strong tight knit communities and the culture of each branch, leaning towards Marines or Coast Guard but big army or navy might have more jobs.
Iâm not concerned with your Ap Exams but rather what you take. After all, your exams will happen after admission.
Youâre a native Spanish speaker so you are fluent ? In that case, for the most selective schools, you likely should have taken a third language. Mastering what you already know isnât mastering. But some will be satisfied as is.
Again, you are early but on a good path. Come ba k at the end of the school year with a test score.
Honestly, finding a ROTC scholarship might be your biggest issue, but if you serve, youâll get great experience. Where you go undergrad is unlikely to matter much. Experience is far more important.
Donât focus on grades - youâre already goood there. Focus on mastering what you havenât so far.
But all is good.
If you dropped sports for medical reasons, you should be worried if you qualify for ROTC in the first place. You basically need to be in perfect health to get into the military now. They donât have been cutting the number of officer spots with the new administration
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What can you afford ? Thatâs what Iâm asking. ROTC. Not assured.
What makes you think the ROI at a top school thatâs $400k is better than a school, that depend on your SAT, might be $80k.
Most pay by location, not school.
I donât know what you can afford. Thatâs why Iâm asking for budget.
Have that discussion now with your folks.
My school only offers Spanish because we are sub 300 kids. Those will be my most advanced classes I take, what would you suggest is what I havenât mastered other than standardized tests, and I dropped the sport because I am doing oral immunotherapy for my peanut allergy so I can eat them whenever I want and get them off my paperwork so I can do ROTC. the treatment is once a week along with eating a dose with every meal and then not working out for 4 hours which limits my availability for sports.
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Will do thanks.
Will let others provide feedback. You might be on the right track. Maybe find a local ROTC coordinator to ask about opportunities as well. Some schools may be more competitive than others - I donât know.
Hopefully others chime in. Good luck.
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Now I am taking this as a challenge. Perhaps the next time that I am in the areaâŠ
Getting back to serious discussion. One way to think of it: I would not think of MIT as âbetterâ than other universities. I would think of it as academically more challenging than the vast majority of other universities. You need to want to do it. The desire to work that hard needs to come from inside yourself. Donât do this to please someone else or because you think that it will help your career. If you get accepted, then go there if you want to do it and if you want to prove to yourself that you can do it.
At highly ranked universities pretty much every student there was near the top of their class in high school. They wonât all be at the top of their class at MIT (or Stanford, Caltech, Chicago, âŠ). Being near the bottom of the class at a highly ranked university can be a tough place to be for someone who isnât used to it. However, to me I think that it is very difficult for someone to predict in advance whether they are going to want to do it when they get there. I have seen some students who become better students when they get into tougher classes. I really do not know how you predict in advance whether you will love it, hate it, love it part of the time and hate it part of the time, or just sort of plow through and get the work done. Perhaps this is just something that anyone applying to MIT (or a few other schools such as Caltech) should think about.
Another thing to do for someone contemplating some specific major at some specific university is to look at the graduation requirements, including both general university requirements and major-specific requirements. If considering MIT for computer science, you might want to look at the requirements for both 6-3 (Computer Science and Engineering) and 18C (Mathematics with Computer Science). What I did was quite close to the latter, although this specific major did not exist at the time and my degree just says âMathematicsâ. Regardless math and computer science are IMHO a good combination.
Considering other schoolsâŠ
I have worked with a very large number of software engineers, plus a few other high tech folks, who graduated from U. Mass Amherst. The best of them are really, really, really good, and very much on a par with the strongest graduates from MIT and Stanford.
I think that you have a good list of schools. While I expect you to get accepted to U.Mass Amherst, just to be extra safe I think that U.Mass Lowell is a good backup and you have quite a few other very good schools on your list. I think that your chances for admissions to Toronto are quite good, but getting a scholarship is much less likely. The Lester B. Pearson scholarship is very, very competitive and I am not familiar with other scholarships for international students at Toronto. UC Davis is very good but would be expensive as an out of state student. UC Berkeley is of course a reach and would also be expensive. WPI and RPI are good schools and seem quite likely to me for admissions.
What is USMA? Is this West Point? Of course this is only if you are solid in your commitment to serve in the US Military.
This does sound like something that a future MIT student might have done in high school.
Try to pull up your grades in math, and you will see how this comes out. I expect that you will do well one way or another. Best wishes.
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Thanks for the advice, I am interested in the service, I will probably apply to lowell, I will pooke around course reqs online. Happy Thanksgiving!
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Imo, you will really need BC Calc with Aâs in math for what you are looking to accomplish.
Penn M&T, Harvard, and MIT feel unrealistic.
Your reaches such as UCB, Penn, Georgetown, USMA are probably as high as you should go.
I would like to see you admitted to the majority of Northeastern, W&M, Maryland, RPI, Case Western - because that seems to be an appropriate level.
Good luck!
Any other advice other than grades? Thanks! I figure most people applying to MIT would be considered unrealistic but I hope my ECS can maybe make up for a unremarkable academic record and maybe some solid essays!
ECs donât make up for grades but your classwork is pretty remarkable actually. Strong rigor but unsure if the foreign language if you are a heritage speaker. But your counselor can write a note that no other languages were available.
Think weâre saying similar. Happy to bet a buck on the âsinging a happy tuneâ bit when youâre in town next. We can walk it together.
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Itâs a real shame that sometimes familiarity breeds contempt. UMass is awesome, but at my daughters fancy prep school, on Acceptance Day, when the kids wear the sweat-tops of the schools they are going to, the UMass kids are looked at sympathetically, like âAww, poor thing.â Drives me crazy. Itâs an awesome program, especially honors.
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Donât think just grades, think academics overall. You must take BC Calc (or higher) if it is offered. Same with AP Physics. If you canât fit one into your schedule, decide which non-stem course you can drop. Then, think test scores including AP tests since they are all submitted. After that, the extras will matter a lot. When people say unrealistic on CC, they generally mean - donât bother applying. It means they think your odds are lower than the admit percentage; you are not at the level of the average applicant. No, most people applying to MIT would not be considered unrealistic. If people average the 5% admit percentage, that is a realistic chance for MIT, but your odds are lower than that IMO.